Meet Kale, yet another member of the brassica family, a clan of vegetables that includes cabbage, collards, and Brussels sprouts.

Although believed to have been brought over to Europe around 600 BC by groups of Celtic wanderers (and over to the U.S. in the 17th Century), Kale has only recently stepped into the spotlight for its organosulfur-containing phytonutrients. Specifically, kale offers a hefty dose of the phytonutrients glucosinolate and cysteine sulfoxide, which are thought to activate detoxifying enzymes in the liver and neutralize potentially carcinogenic substances, free radicals and other harmful compounds.

We here at Mark’s Daily Apple love salads. And lets face it, what’s not to love? Not only is it healthy, but there is so much opportunity to change it up. You could literally go years without repeating the same salad!

However, coming up with new salad “recipes” can be a bit of a challenge…until now. Read on to learn a list of the best salad ingredients, toppings, dressings and (gasp) even some forbidden add-ins, and learn new ways to combine them all!

Base: While this doesn’t necessarily comprise the bulk of the salad, it’s a good place to start. Depending on your hunger level, start with 1-2 cups of any of the following (or a combination of several!)

Yesterday, Mark, in the comment section of Dear Mark: Chronic Cardio, said “It all comes down to this: fat loss depends 80% on what and how you eat.” As part of the Primal Blueprint the most important aspect of weight management is your diet – what you consume. But we are still left with the other 20%, and it shouldn’t go overlooked. Here is a prime example of what happens if you neglect physical activity.

A study in this month’s Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise suggests that fitness enthusiasts that abruptly halt their exercise plans not only gain more weight, but also have a harder time taking it off once exercise resumes.

Did you do a double take on this one? Yes, gout is making an uncomfortable comeback in the U.S., actually doubling in the last few decades. If you always pictured gout as a disease of the Charles Dicken’s era, you’re not alone. It’s likely history buffs knew more about it than health nuts until now. Thanks, in part, to the likes of soda, Sunny D and other sweet drinks, we can all get a lesson in popular medical conditions of the Victorian era. The study comes out of the University of British Columbia.

A surge in the painful joint condition called gout among American men is linked to a rise in drinking sodas and other sugary soft drinks, a study published Friday suggests. The risk of the disease increased in line with the intake of sugar-sweetened soft drinks. Those least likely to develop gout were men who drank less than one serving per month. Compared with that group, men who drank five to six servings a week were 29 percent likelier to develop gout. This probability rose to 45 percent among those who had one serving per day, and to 85 percent among those who drank two servings or more. The risk was proportionately higher among drinks containing fructose as a sweetener rather than sugar.

Ever break a mirror and instinctively know that you’re destined for seven years of bad luck? Turns out these same urban myths run rampant in the wild world of health and fitness too! Read on to learn about some of the more bizarre health myths out there and why, exactly, they aren’t for real!

The Primal Blueprint Podcast

Interviews with Mark Sisson and other health experts. Audio versions of select Mark’s Daily Apple posts each week. “Best of MDA” recordings. Fresh, lively content to help you stay at the cutting edge of Primal living!